City offers abandoned boat to salvage companies; owner still missing

Corey Perrine/Staff
A 34-foot Gemini catamaran called "Latitudes" sits docked at slip 29 Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at the Naples Boat Dock in Naples, Fla. The boat is registered to Wayne Lamar Ball of Cumming, Ga. and was docked and padlocked overnight June 6. No one saw the operator of the vessel and even more curious no one can locate the owner. Their is no lien on the craft. Ball, 57, is listed as a resident of Pensacola.

Naples Daily News

City officials are hoping to remove a boat abandoned at the Naples City Dock by a man who was later reported missing.

Dock employees found Latitudes, a 34-foot Gemini catamaran, on June 6 and have since been unable to contact its owner, Wayne Ball.

Earlier this month, the City sent a proposal to six salvage companies, agreeing to turn the boat over in exchange for $1,565 in unpaid slip fees, harbor master Roger Jacobsen said. The letter also mentions a lien Ball's ex-wife filed on the boat for $5,780.

Jacobsen said the exchange will not be available to members of the general public. The company awarded with Latitudes will assume all liability.

"The only legal people that can do it in the state of Florida has the power of salvage," he said. "Once they legally take it from us, it's theirs. They will probably go through the title change."

Ball, 57, was reported as a missing person in early August. On Aug. 17, Ball created a blog and began posting a series of bizarre, winding entries about being held captive. Naples police detective Robert Young later called it "obviously a work of fiction."

Ball has been seen around bars and restaurants in Naples and is not believed to be a threat to himself or others, Young has said. If found, he will be arrested on a warrant for unpaid child support out of Escambia County.

The six salvage companies have until Oct. 19 to respond to the city's proposal.